If you’re invested in Disney news (and likely, even if you aren’t), you might have heard of the major expansions hitting Disneyland and Disney World. From the stories of Monsters, Inc., Avatar, Frozen, and more, there are SO many areas coming, themed to beloved franchises and intellectual properties.
In 2024, CEO Bob Iger said that the company “decided that almost all of our investment in the parks in terms of attractions and lands would be using that IP. And it’s very, very clear what that delivered.” During a Quarter 1 earnings call this year, Iger was answering a question and mentioned that they are going to “continue to create our own, and we’ve got an unbelievable bedrock of stories already told to grow from.”
Around Disneyland and Disney World nowadays, very few attractions don’t involve IP, like the Haunted Mansion and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Some older attractions have been renovated to add in IP, like Pirates of the Caribbean, and others have been completely renovated and turned into something packed with IP, like Frozen Ever After.
It’s fairly debated in the Disney community what is preferred. Many love the nostalgia of original stories exclusive to the parks, while others love seeing their favorite movies come to life.
With the new expansions coming to the parks, everything is from Disney movies and concepts. Pueblo Esperanza, the Tropical Americas-themed land coming to Animal Kingdom, will include rides based on Encanto and Indiana Jones…
…Monstropolis is for our favorite monsters, Mike and Sulley, coming to Hollywood Studios…
…and Piston Peak in Magic Kingdom will be the East Coast’s version of Cars Land, already built in Disney California Adventure. Not only are these all from movies, besides Encanto, which came out in 2021, but most of these franchises are also older, coming out in the early 2000s and beyond.
Villains Land is also coming to Magic Kingdom and will bring in different characters from other storylines, combining them into one space.
Even Walt Disney Studios coming to Hollywood Studios is not an original concept. Although different, it’s based on the original animation studio in Burbank, California, and it uses the same architecture and concepts to teach about animation (with some fun characters and a playground, too).
An Avatar expansion is also coming to Disney California Adventure. All recent expansions already built, like Cars Land, Toy Story Land, and Galaxy’s Edge, have all been from loved franchises — something Disney already knows guests love.
This isn’t just for domestic parks, too. Hong Kong Disneyland has World of Frozen, which is also being built in Disneyland Paris. Other new rides and attractions coming to the parks are themed around IP like Tangled and The Lion King.
When asked about the value of acquiring IP, Iger said they’re not interested in buying other IP right now because they already have a catalog of amazing stories to tell. They’re going to look at the screen to see what’s already working and continue to work on those stories.
What do you think about IP in the parks? Tell us your thoughts in the comments and make sure you keep following AllEars for more!
I think it’s sad that they have no imagination to create original stories anymore. I really miss the things they’d come up with that were park exclusive. Encanto never interested me because nothing really happens in that movie there’s no villian. The monsters in. Section feels a bit outdated, and the way they usually implement it is to garishly barf it all over what were on e works of art. Overall this is a big disappointment to hear after the success of test track 3.